"The funeral service was held at the Church of the Icon of the Mother of God "Quench My Sorrows" in Moscow. His burial site is the Borisovsky cemetery in Moscow's Maryino district, where Navalny lived.

Navalny's parents attended the funeral ceremony and the burial. Video from the cemetery showed his father Anatoly leaning forward to kiss the forehead of his son as Navalny's body lay in an open casket.

Also present were foreign diplomats, including the US Ambassador to Russia, Lynne Tracy. Navalny's widow, Yulia Navalnaya, has been living abroad and was not present.

She said ahead of the funeral that she was concerned police would crack down on mourners. In a message released on Friday, she posted a video with the caption:

"Thank you for 26 years of absolute happiness."

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What the Kremlin said: Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov told CNN on Friday he has "nothing" to say to Navalny's family; however, he did warn Russians against unauthorized memorials.

"Any unauthorized gathering will be in violation of the law. Accordingly, those who will participate in it will bear responsibility under the laws in place," Peskov told journalists on a regularly scheduled call on Friday.

Defiant mourners showed up in large numbers

Alexey Navalny's daughter Dasha Navalnaya vowed to make her father proud in an Instagram post on Friday, the day of his funeral.

"You taught me to live by my principles from childhood. To live a worthy life. You gave your life for me, for my mother, for Zakhar (Navalny's son), for Russia, and I promise you that I will live my life the way you taught me, to make you proud, and most importantly, with the same bright smile on my face," she said in a farewell note to her father.

Navalnaya also said that her father will forever remain "an example" to live by, calling him her "role model" and her "hero."

"From the grave, Navalny takes a last jab at Putin

Despite the risk of persecution, thousands publicly paid their last respects to the opposition leader in cities across Russia.

It's been a long time since the chant of "Putin is a killer" has resounded in Moscow's streets, and the Russian authorities certainly tried to prevent it.

But death has not quelled Alexei Navalny's ability to upstage the Kremlin.

Even lying ashen-faced in a casket he managed to do what in today's Russia seems impossible: draw thousands out onto the streets in an act of collective defiance unseen since Russian President Vladimir Putin launched his full-scale war against Ukraine two years ago."

"The immediate aftermath of Navalny's death saw an outpouring of emotion, with people throughout Russia bringing flowers to monuments to Soviet-era political repression in their cities.

Authorities have cleared the flowers and made hundreds of arrests."

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